


Galactic Response Time

by SassySnowperson (DramaticEntrance)



Series: SassySnowperson's Marvel Works [3]
Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Captain Marvel (2019) Spoilers, Filling in the canon gaps, Friendship, Gen, Humor, It's hard to get to Earth when you're halfway across a galaxy, More or less Canon Compliant, Post-Canon Captain Marvel, Texts to Space, at least until Avengers Endgame comes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 23:11:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18200273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticEntrance/pseuds/SassySnowperson
Summary: All the OTHER times Nick Fury texted Carol Danvers.May 4th, 2012Get your ASS over here there is an INVASION. Aliens are coming out of the SKY HELP USMay 10th, 2012"Invasion, Fury, the word you used was invasion! I made it across three quarters of the galaxy in six days! Where are the aliens?"





	Galactic Response Time

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't really mean to write this fic, but somewhere between looking at the timeline to see if my headcanon would work and deciding, hey, I should just write a couple things down, I had an outline. 
> 
> So, I hope you all enjoy the results of me learning far more about the MCU's timeline than I ever intended to :D

###### May 12, 2000

Carol fidgeted as she tried to get comfortable on the sun-baked school bleachers, crossing her right leg over her left. The graduates all stood in the field below, in two lines snaking along the edge of the stage, as the teachers standing behind the static-popping microphone did their best to not butcher the names of their soon-to-be former students. 

"Nicole Powell!"

The shifting didn't work. Apparently cosmic powers did not grant immunity to uncomfortable school bleachers. As the names droned on, Carol tried shifting her left leg over her right leg, for a change.

"Monica Rambeau!" 

Carol shot to her feet and and hollered, her voice joining the chorus of enthusiastic cheers from the rest of Monica's family. Next to her Maria was screaming happily, grabbing Carol's shoulder and shaking it as she threw her fist in the air. From the stage, Monica beamed in their general direction, her wide grin visible across half a football field. 

After the ceremony came the traditional Mill Around and Try To Find Your Graduate While Your Graduate Tries to Find Their Friends. Carol thought she saw Monica through a gap in the bleachers, and split off to look for her. Before she could reach her target, though, she saw another face, and diverted course, deeper into the shadows, away from the crowds.

"The cat actually did your eye in?" Carol blurted out, upon finding none other than Nicholas Joseph Fury at her niece's graduation. 

"It's called a flerken, Danvers, get with the program," Fury said with a smirk. "Thought I'd find you here." 

"You couldn't think I'd miss it." 

"What am I supposed to think? You don't write, you don't call. I'm starting to get my feelings hurt." Fury laid his hand on his chest and leaned toward her. 

Carol laughed and shoved him away. Gently. Not with her full strength. The school didn't need to foot that kind of repair bill. "I don't know if you know this but trying to save an entire civilization from being hunted down by a galactic superpower requires you to work some odd hours." 

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Don't feed me that bullshit, Danvers. This ain't your first trip back to Earth." 

Carol raised her hands. "Guilty as charged. Come on, Monica's a great kid. I wasn't going to vanish out of her life again. I've still missed more birthdays than I've made, but I'm not a ghost anymore." 

"That's damn good to hear. And the next time you're in town, come by. My door's always open. Just make sure there's no one in my office if you come in glowing." 

Carol nodded. "This is the sort of keen insight that makes you the master of your field." 

"Damn straight." Fury lapsed into a smile. "I've missed you, Danvers. Most people respect me now. It's getting boring." 

"What a terrifying fate. I noticed you haven't used the pager I gave you." 

"You said only for emergencies. We haven't really had one yet. Don't you worry, though, I keep it close." Fury patted the inside of his jacket. 

"Good." Carol said approvingly. "How's Goose?"

"Getting old. Maybe? I have no idea how long flerkens live. I figure I've got another ten years before I need to stage her death and a couple months later suspiciously adopt a new cat that looks almost exactly like her." 

"Or just lean into the immortal cat thing. I'll bet you could make that work for you." 

"I'll think about it. See you around, Danvers."

###### April 16th, 2005
    
    
      Danvers, I've got a situation I need you to look at. A scientist just turned himself into something big, mean, and punchy. I need something punchier.
    

###### May 2nd, 2005

"Alright, where is this thing?" Carol asked, brushing herself off from the quick tuck-and-roll landing she made through the door to the balcony of Fury's offices.

Fury slowly turned in his chair to face the door. "Took you long enough." 

"I was in Xandar. Do you have any idea how far away Xandar is? It's really far. I busted my ass to get here." 

"Well, he's gone to ground." 

"The big mean punchy thing is also capable of stealth?" 

Fury tossed her a file. "Not so much stealth as transformation. You know the old story of Jekyll and Hyde?"

Carol flipped through the file. "These radiation signatures can't be right." 

"Read with the best tech we've got. Unless you'd like to supply us with something nicer…?" 

"Nice try. We both agreed that Earth isn't ready to hit the galactic marketplace. You really want to be humans to be known as a tax-dodging smugglers of imported tech?" Carol turned another page, pausing to examine a photo of a very mild-looking man with a worried face. Bruce Banner, the notation read.

"You say that like we're not eventually going to be known as that anyway." Fury sounded tired. 

Carol cheerfully patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, sure, but let's earn it as a species, and not because I set up an illegal supply trade to give a subsection of Earth a massive edge." She turned on her wrist scanner and made a copy of the files. 

Fury sighed. "What about just a little bit of an edge?" he wheedled.

Carol snorted as she fiddled with her wrist readout. "I might be able to find him."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is working with the Army on this. If you see anything—"

"I'll do my best to ensure there's no further property damage…" Carol looked up. "You really want to trust the army with this kind of firepower?" 

Fury grimaced. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has to play nice." 

Carol winked. "Understood." She tossed the file back on his desk and waggled her fingers as she backed out of the office again. 

* * *

Carol poked her head into the tiny motel room off of a dust-choked backroad. "Hello?" 

There was a noise out back of shattering glass, and Carol sighed. She went over to the front office, payed the geriatric being of indeterminate gender behind the desk enough to cover the damages, before ducking around a corner and taking off after him. 

She had to be more careful, these days, about swooping around on Earth. Cameras were getting smaller and more easily distributed. Still, Banner had picked a place close enough to the middle of nowhere that she could have some fun, and with a whoop she chased her path to a running start then took off flying. 

She caught up to him in less than a minute, hovering alongside his dirt-bike and relishing his alarmed expression. "Hi!" She waved cheerfully. "I'm from space. Can we chat?" 

Once Banner slowed to a stop, still spluttering at her with choked alarm, Carol slowly settled to her feet next to him. 

"You can fly," Banner said, in the tones of a man who had a great deal of strange in his life, and hey, here was one more strange thing.

"I can. I'm also very tough and could probably take the Other Guy in a fight"—Banner started, but before he could get too worried about what she knew she said quickly—"And even better, I can definitely pick him up and fly him away from civilian populations." 

"He's...pretty heavy," was all Banner managed. 

"I'm pretty strong." Carol hooked her pinkie finger around the handle of the dirtbike and effortlessly lifted the front about six inches off her ground to make her point. "I'm just mentioning it so you don't need to stress about this chat." 

Banner blinked, slowly. "I'm sorry, this is just going very differently than any other conversation I've had with people who know about the Other Guy." 

Carol nodded. "I was blasted by strange energy and then spent six years being used by a military force without my consent so I'm coming at this from a _slightly_ different angle than all those other people." 

"I see." Banner's jaw worked a couple times before he finally managed to say, "I'm sorry to hear that?" 

"It's cool. I'm free now, I'll have my vengeance, all that, it's not really important to this conversation, but!" Carol pointed. "I wanted to find you to see if you wanted to come to space with me?" 

"I have...many questions," Banner said slowly. 

"I have a not-insignificant number of answers. Shoot."

"I can't—I don't think I can breathe in space," Banner said with a wince. 

"Really strange when that one goes from being a period to a question mark, isn't it?" 

"Yes," Banner said, sounding exhausted. "I can't breathe in space. That used to be such a safe sentence." 

"Well, it's also an irrelevant one, because I have a space ship. What kind of a former Air Force pilot turned cosmic vigilante do you think doesn't have a space ship?"

"You seem to live an exciting life," Banner said faintly.

"Guilty as charged." 

"And that, combined with the spaceship part, combined with the fact that stress turns me into a monster that can smash through...anything, makes the 'Can I breath in space?' question not irrelevant." 

Carol thought about that for a moment. "I can see your point."

Banner gave a wan and worried smile. 

"So that's a no on space," Carol clarified.

Banner nodded. "Is that...going to be a problem?" 

"Not between us," Carol said easily, keeping her posture open. 

Banner obviously relaxed. 

"Well...I'm going to...go back to space, now. Just wanted to give you the option. Good luck with the hiding!" 

Banner nodded. "Thanks? Will you be...coming back here?" 

"Probably. I won't try to find you again, though. Unless..." Carol made a face, gestured back in the direction of civilization, and pounded her fist against her hand a couple times.

"Got it." Banner flattened his lips. "I actually find your existence rather reassuring." 

"I thought you might. Take care of yourself, Doc. I won't tell anyone where I found you." 

###### May 31st, 2011
    
    
      I'm pretty sure we've got an honest to god alien invasion on our hands. Please come.
    

###### June 20th, 2011

"I don't see any aliens, Fury." Carol threw herself onto the couch in Fury's office, kicking her legs over the side. "You said please come, there are aliens. Did they go to ground too?" 

"We are...eight-six percent sure they did not. They appear to have returned to Asgard." 

Carol lifted her head off the couch. "Asgard? I haven't heard of Asgard." She pulled her arm up, keying in a search query. "The database hasn't heard of Asgard." 

"Our theory right now is that it isn't actually in space, but connected to earth by a Rainbow Bridge." 

"Stop bullshitting me, Fury." Carol swung her legs off the side of the couch and stood up, glaring. 

"I god damn wish I was. But that is the term used by Leading Scientists." Fury waved a stack of documents in her direction. 

"Bull. Shit." Carol stalked over and picked up the documents. "See, it says right here, Einstein-Rosen Bridge. That's a good, science-filled name." 

"No, it says Einstein-Rosen Bridge adjacent. Keep reading." 

"...no way." 

"You think it's bad for you? You haven't had to use the name 'Rainbow Bridge' in a high-level briefing between the congress and the President, Danvers."

"Well thank heavens for small mercies. Is there anything you do need me for?" 

Fury shook his head. "I keep expecting them to come back, but it's all been quiet. I've got nothing actionable for you right now."

Carol stretched. "Alright. I'm going to spend a couple weeks down in Louisiana, so if something pops up…" 

"You'll be first on my list. Tell Maria hi for me." 

###### May 1st, 2012
    
    
      The glowing blue box was bad news, now I've got a superpowered prick mind-controlling one of my best agents. Get over here. 
    

###### May 4th, 2012
    
    
      Get your ASS over here there is an INVASION. Aliens are coming out of the SKY HELP US
    

###### May 10th, 2012

"Invasion, Fury, the word you used was invasion! I made it three quarters away across the galaxy in six days! Where are the aliens?"

Fury looked up at her, and for the first time Carol could see the exhaustion on his face. "Carol, I'm sorry, I should have called you off. It's been…"

"Nick," Carol said, trying out the first name thing, "what happened?"

Nick didn't flinch away from the name. If anything, he relaxed. He leaned back against the chair and ran his hands tiredly down his face. "You know what? Let's go for a walk." 

It wasn't as easy as just walking out the door. First, there were half-a-dozen phone calls to various heads of state and associated officials. Then three more minutes briefing serious-looking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents by video chat. Carol only made a few faces from where she stood behind the glowing screen. Finally, they made it to the garage, where Nick requisitioned a black, unmarked car. He shook his head when they got in it, pointing to the vents, then to his ears. 

The car was bugged. Carol nodded her understanding, then leaned against the passenger seat and shut her eyes. 

It had been a long, hard flight, just to get here and miss everything. 

They drove in silence until they reached the city and parked. As they got out of the car, Nick jerked his head, and they started walking south. 

As they strolled, Carol started to see the edges of what had happened here. There were stories to be told on the streets, rumors hidden in the rubble: buildings with scorch marks that matched no human fire, streets with unnatural cracks running straight across them, a bus, settled upside down against a building, as if it had been thrown and forgotten, like a child's toy. They ambled, not-quite aimlessly, and Nick started talking. 

"It was bad, Carol. My best agent and they just took his mind away, twisted it to fight for them." 

"That happens sometimes," Carol said with a flinch. 

"It does. I could have handled it. I could have handled the god with the staff that was the problem, too. But when that god mind-controlled some scientists—Selvig, by the way, our foremost Rainbow Bridge expert—"

"Still hate that name," Carol interrupted. 

"Me too. What kind of nineties educational children's programming kinda name is that? But he didn't build a Rainbow Bridge, just a good old-fashioned Einstein-Rosen variety, cut a wormhole halfway across the galaxy and the Chitauri came pouring through." 

"Chitauri. I know that… _here?_ They went here?" 

"Yeah." 

"Oooh. Yeah, you were right to call. How...they should still be here, kicking your asses. No offence." 

"Iron Man flew through the portal and threw a nuclear warhead at the mothership. 

"You know what? Solid move. I can respect that." Carol paused. "He's dead?" 

Nick's mouth curled into a smile. "Stubborn son-of-a-bitch made it through." 

"You like him," Carol said with a grin.

"He doesn't respect me in the slightest."

"So, you really like him, then. Did you know James Rhodes and I went through Candidate School together? I still can't believe his punk-ass best friend became Iron Man." 

"Rhodey goes by War Machine." 

"Men," Carol said, rolling her eyes. "Such fragile egos." 

Nick snorted. "You don't know the half of it." He gestured around the corner. 

They rounded the building, and the street stretched out before them. It was the first time Carol really had a comprehensive picture of the destruction. Buildings with holes torn out of them, rubble made out of cement and steel girders, and large black shells that Carol knew weren't human. 

Nick nudged her side, and gestured even further. There was a skyscraper in that direction, surrounded by massive tower cranes. The letter 'A', ten stories tall, was being maneuvered by cranes to perch on top of the building. 

"Rebuilding. We're a tenacious species," Carol said. 

"That used to be Stark tower. He still owns it, but they're calling it something else now. The 'A' stands for Avenger." 

Carol froze. "My callsign was Avenger." 

"It was a bit of a pet project." 

"Nicholas Joseph Fury—"

"Now hold on, just because I'm going to let you get away with calling me Nick doesn't mean I'm going to let you—" 

"—did you name a team of superheroes after me?" Carol grinned at him. 

"Maybe…" Nick allowed with a half-smile. "They're a good team. They've got some bumps, but they've got potential. Do you—ah. Wanna go meet 'em?"

"I do, but I can't." Carol sighed, turning to Nick. "I'm getting ready to make my move on the Supreme Intelligence. I can't get tied up here." 

Nick nodded. "Well, we've got a decent team now. You want some help?" 

Carol laughed. "No, I think me and my army of shapeshifting spies and other miscellaneous disaffected space travellers have a pretty good thing going there. I'd rather know someone was looking after Earth. But...thanks, you know? It means a lot that you ask." 

Nick reached over, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder and squeezing. "You go do what you need to do. We'll take care of things here."

###### November 12th, 2013
    
    
    We've got elves coming out of portals but we've also got some gods fighting them, I'll give you an update if we need you. 
    
    
    
    All good. God is shacking up in New York now. Should be fine for a bit. 

###### November 26th, 2013

Nick looked up, blanching when he saw Carol. "Did my message not send? I told you, we didn't need you." 

Carol rocked forward on the balls of her toes, bouncing slightly. "Guess what?" 

Nick stood up, slow smile on his face as he took her in. "You did it." 

Carol started to do a self-congratulatory shimmy, and was surprised when Nick interrupted to wrap her up in a hug. She laughed and hugged him back, squeezing tight. "It's gone. The Kree are going to have to fight their war without their Big Metal Brain telling them what to do." 

"Does that mean you're coming home?" 

Carol winced. "Not…the Kree are still strong. They're still locked in war with the Nova Empire, the Skrulls still need a home, there's rumors that Thanos is gearing up to roll out again—it's all politics, but I've got a stake in it. I can't just leave." 

Nick pulled back, looking at her sadly. "You ever going to stop fighting?" 

Carol swallowed. "Higher, further, faster, you know the drill. There are still bullies out there."

Nick snorted. "You really need to meet Steve." 

"Maybe later. I've got a date around a Thanksgiving dinner table in Louisiana, and for once, I am making my reservation." 

"Attagirl." 

"You going to come?" 

"My mom would kill me." 

"Bring your mom. Maria always cooks enough for an army and I am making Carol Danvers Famous Mashed Potatoes."

"What makes them famous?"

"Bacon, mostly. Lots of bacon."

"Well, for that, Mama Fury and I just might have to stop by. Good seeing you, Carol." 

###### April 15th, 2014

Carol found the ramshackle little house after fourteen hours of searching. She was tired, she was angry, and she had no problem putting a hole in the roof. 

She stood slowly amidst the falling rubble, peering through the dust dancing in the sunlight until she saw the shape of Nick sitting in an armchair, wrapped up in a robe, looking alarmed. 

She stalked toward him. "What kind of a message is this?" she snarled, shoving the pager in his face. 
    
    
      Gonna fake my own death, don't freak out.
    

"Ah yes, this is my fault, I can see where the confusion lay." Nick said, slowly standing up from his chair and dusting off his robe. He wandered over to the roof, looking up. "I said, 'Gonna fake my own death, don't freak out' and you...forgot what the word don't means?" 

"What happened, Nick?" Carol asked. She had come to earth to find footage of carriers falling out of the sky, trials and corruption, death and fire. 

"Nothing that could be solved with punching," Nick sighed. "We might as well move into the dining room. There's no rubble in there." 

The dining room was a narrow room straight out of the seventies, all linoleum and heavy wood panelling. The window looked out on a forest, the tall thin pines of a high mountain home. Carol walked over the the window, stared out at the trees and asked, "What are you doing here?" 

"Recovering from major surgery. You know, the sort of thing that usually happens after you get shot. Doctor's orders: rest and relaxation and having impulsive superheroes drop in on your head." Carol turned back to the table to see Nick dramatically put his hands to his lips. After a few deliberate taps he said, "You know, I think one of those might be wrong." He gave her an exasperated glare. 

"Who shot you?" Carol demanded.

"Hydra." 

Carol froze. "Oh, shit, they're from the Andromeda galaxy, right? Seven-headed, about the size of a school bus?" 

Nick coughed. "No. In this case, it's just an organization that thought the name was cool." 

Carol huffed a sigh of relief. She let herself sink down into the chair across from him, rubbing her hands across her face. "So what did they do?" 

"They infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.. I missed it." Nick's jaw tensed, and he slammed his hands down on the table. "My program, my people, they were traitors and I _missed it_. I should have known." 

"Nick," Carol said gently, ignoring his glare. "You may have everyone else fooled, but I know you're not omnipotent. We miss things." 

"Things like the fact that an authoritarian terrorist group has eaten my organization from the inside out? I practically handed them the keys to the planet." 

"Are they in charge now?" Carol asked. 

Nick shook his head. "We won, but it was close." 

"Nick, you're a tough, dedicated bastard who has kept the forces of evil in check on earth for over a decade. If you missed this, it's because they were damn good, they did their homework, they found some weak points, and they had the power and pull to exploit them. And with all that they still didn't win." 

Nick's shoulders softened. "Are you giving me a pep talk?" 

"Someone has to," Carol said, tipping her head with a smirk. "Everyone else is too scared of you to actually do it. Is it working? Do you feel pepped?"

Nick chuckled. "You know what, I think I just might." 

"Cool," Carol said. "So do you have food in this place or do I have to fly into town to get it? We're going to dinner, and we're going to bitch about authoritarian megalomaniacal idiots, and then I'm gonna fix your roof."

"I think I've got some Easy Mac." 

"…what is this?" 

"You know Mac N Cheese?" 

Carol nodded. "A staple food item of college students everywhere." 

"They decided to really lean into that demographic...they made it microwaveable." 

"An easy food made even easier. Will I ever stop being astounded by the dizzying heights of human ingenuity?"

Nick smiled. "I've missed you." 

Carol wrinkled her nose. "Don't tell anyone, but I think I've missed you too." 

"Your secret's safe with me." 

###### May 2nd, 2015
    
    
      We have a sentient robot that might be making more sentient robots, this seems like it could get really ugly. I could use you.
    

###### May 3rd, 2015
    
    
      I just had to pep talk Earth's best and brightest it's getting bad out there. Get over here ASAP.
    

###### May 5th, 2015
    
    
      We just made a new sentient robot, and are sending it to fight the other sentient robot. I'm sure this won't go badly.
    

###### May 6th, 2015
    
    
      Now a country is floating HELP
    

###### May 12th, 2015

"I get here as fast as I can, you know." 

Nick sighed. 

"Ten days is a pretty good galactic response time." 

"Carol, I—"

"A _floating country_? Six days ago you had a floating country and now it's fine?" 

"Well if it wasn't fine we'd all be dead, and you might be the only human left in existance, so maybe you should just be happy about that fact, mmm?" 

"Yeah, yeah, congrats on not being dead," Carol ran her fingers through her hair and gave a heavy sigh. "I just left some things…that I really didn't want to leave. Why do you even call me if you've got it handled?" 

Nick leaned in, his palms on his desk, "Listen, Carol, when everything was going to shit, I sat the Avengers down and I told them that they were strong enough, and I was totally confidant in their ability to resolve things." 

"Uh-huh," Carol said, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"I was lying through my teeth. I thought we were all going to die. Let me tell you, Carol, it's really hard to know in advance whether or not we're going to be able to wrap things up on our own." 

Carol sighed, unfolding her arms. "Fair enough. You know, it seems like May is a really unlucky time for this planet." 

"Evil is year-round." 

"Please put that on a bumper sticker and sell it with the little Avengers logo to the side. That'd be great. But I mean, seriously, a lot of terrible things happen in May. Maybe," Carol stopped, grinning, " _May_ be, hey, anyway, I should just plan on being around here next May." 

"It's a coincidence." 

"Better safe than sorry. See you in a year." 

###### May 1st, 2016

"I still think this is a dumb plan, Carol." 

Carol shrugged, duffle bag slung over her shoulder bouncing a little with the movement. "I'm being proactive, Nick." 

"You're looking for a vacation, that's what you're doing." 

"I will neither confirm nor deny that fact. You know where to find me." 

"Knee-deep in engine grease and soul food."

Carol gave a happy groan. "I can't wait." 

###### May 31st, 2016

"Well, miracle of miracles, we had a quiet May," Carol said, punching Nick lightly on the shoulder. 

Nick did his best to hide a flinch as he rubbed his bicep. "That we did. I won't say I told you so. I hope you enjoyed your vacation." 

"I really did," Carol said, sincerity slipping out of her.

"Good. Sure you can't stay?" 

Carol shook her head. "I—no. There's some trouble kicking up with intergalactic terrorists, I've got to get on that. It's been real, Nick. Try not to let the Earth blow up while I'm gone." 

"That's always been my goal. Kick ass out there." 

Carol sketched him a lazy salute with her index finger, and took off for the stars. 

###### June 8th, 2016
    
    
      You jinxed us. Someone just blew up the UN. Now, this isn't a problem that needs a glowing solution, BUT STILL
    

###### June 10th, 2016
    
    
      Now they're all fighting in an airport. TWELVE SUPERHEROES ARE FIGHTING IN AN AIRPORT. ONE OF THEM IS A TEENAGER.
    
    
    
      We still don't need you, I just wanted to bitch. 
    

###### August 19, 2017

The air was thick, the sort of lazy, late-summer sluggishness you got in the South. The sound of cicadas hung in the humidity. Ten at night, and the heat was finally breaking. Carol dangled her ice-cold beer bottle between her index and middle finger, giving a happy sigh in the citronella-scented air. "God, what a nightmare." 

"Eh," Nick waved his own beer bottle dismissively, "They worked it out." 

"Only you could be so calm in the face of a Superheroed Civil War," Maria said, chuckling. 

Carol paused mid-way through lifting her beer bottle. "Are you cleared to hear this?" she asked Maria. 

"Honey, I've got a better security clearance than _God_." 

"She's got her own level of clearance. It's 'Carol's gonna say whatever shit she wants to Maria, regardless, so why bother keeping secrets?' Monica's had the same clearance since she's turned twenty-two." 

"That seems long to put in a file." 

"I make it fit. But really, the heroes are fine. Steve's hanging out with Natasha, she'll take care of him. Bucky—"

"Aka the guy that shot you," Carol said, eyes narrowing.

"Aka the guy who was used as a weapon and had his memories wiped, glass houses, stones," Maria cut her off, pointing sharply.

"He's in Wakanda, getting himself back together. We still don't know where Banner and Thor are, that's not ideal, but all-in-all, I think we get to breathe for a bit." 

"Wakanda...I did not see that coming," Carol admitted. "High-tech hidden country in Africa."

"Wakanda the unconquered," Maria said. She and Nick had matching smiles in the candlelight. "It's amazing." 

"They probably know about me," Carol mused. "With their tech, they may have seen me around. Maybe I should go say hi." 

"Maybe you should wait to see if they want to talk," Maria shot back. "Let's not make cosmicly-powered white USAF vet a part of the official response to Wakanda's revelation." 

Carol gave a short acknowledging nod. "Excellent point." She turned to Nick. "Why haven't you hired her yet?" 

"Who says I haven't?" Nick asked. 

"He can't afford me." Maria grinned. 

They laughed, and fell back into easy conversation. Nick yawned, kept talking, then yawned again. He finally checked his watch. "Midnight. Think it's pumpkin time for me, ladies." 

"Night, Nick," Maria said, standing to give him a hug. "Good luck with the hero wrangling." 

Nick nodded, turning to Carol. "You sticking around?" 

She shook her head. "Wish I could. But there's too much going on for me to swing a retirement just yet. There's been rumors that…" Carol shook her head. "It's bad out there. Earth's going to join the party at some point, I want to make sure nobody spikes the punch before we can get there." 

"What do you have against spiked punch?" Maria asked. 

"So it's not a perfect metaphor," Carol shot back. "Whatever. I do my best metaphor-ing before midnight." 

Nick stepped in to claim his own hug. "Well, I'll be seeing you around. Maybe next time Earth will have a crisis that manages to last longer than ninety-two hours, and you can actually get your ass over here in time to help us out." 

Carol wrapped her arms around him, as she heard Maria say, "You know what? No. That's a terrible thing to put out in the world. Honey, just come home for the holidays, like a normal person." 

"Cheers to that," Carol said, pulling back from the hug and clapping Nick around the shoulders, one last time, just hard enough to make him wince a little. "'Til the next time." 

###### May 1, 2018
    
    
      —gency Alert Only, No Message….Emergency Alert Only, No Message….Emergency Alert Only, No Message….Emergency Alert Only, No Me—
    

**Author's Note:**

> And now we see what Avengers Endgame has in store! 
> 
> Want to chat with me about Captain Marvel? I'm [on Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sassysnowperson)
> 
> Enjoy the Fic? [Here's a fun graphic to look at/reblog!](https://sassysnowperson.tumblr.com/post/183631960481/galactic-response-time-read-on-ao3-carol)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [What is the Lifespan of a Flerken?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294071) by [csmithman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/csmithman/pseuds/csmithman)




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